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00:00Each lightsaber stroke and screaming tie fly-by, every line of dialogue and swell of John Williams'
00:06score is etched into the minds of generations of devoted Star Wars fans.
00:10However, the Star Wars the world knows today could so easily have been very, very different
00:15as it goes.
00:16In fact, in some places, George Lucas' initial treatments for the series show little relation
00:21to what ended up on screen down the road.
00:23So I am Gareth from What Cuts Your Star Wars, and here are 10 unused Star Wars scenes that
00:28would have changed everything.
00:3110.
00:32Director Krennic's Alternative Demise Orson Krennic is one of the finest villains
00:36the whole Star Wars series has to offer, an odious rear-etchelon bureaucrat who serves
00:41as Rogue One's antagonist.
00:43His end is a fitting one, too, when his is obliterated along with a sizeable chunk of
00:48the planet Scarif in a Death Star test-firing-slash-scorched-Earth operation authorised by Grand Moff Tarkin.
00:55But that wasn't the original fate the filmmakers had in mind for director Krennic.
00:58In an unused scene, Krennic escaped the surface of Scarif and returned to the Death Star only
01:03to encounter Darth Vader, who promptly throttled him with the power of the Force for failing
01:08so spectacularly to defend the secrets of the Empire's superweapon.
01:12In the end, it was decided Krennic's escape from the fiery apocalypse on Scarif was a
01:16bit unlikely, and robbed him of the ironic death via the lasery armageddon of the weapon
01:21he'd oversaw.
01:22But then, sadly, it also robbed the audience of another iconic Vader moment.
01:30The Battle of Hoth is one of the finest set pieces you'll find in the entire series,
01:35with its frantic surface battle and panicky claustrophobic scenes below ground as the
01:39Rebels evacuate the icy tunnel system.
01:41The first iterations of the sequence, however, added a whole subplot about a pack of Whompers
01:46held captive by the Rebels.
01:48In the build-up to the battle, they are seen stalking the Rebel soldiers, and C-3PO cheekily
01:52removes a warning sign so the Imperial troopers blunder into the Whompers' holding pen.
01:57An Imperial snowtrooper walks obliviously into the room and is then hilariously devoured
02:01off-screen to the bemusement of all, including a certain Darth Vader.
02:06The scenes were justifiably cut for pacing, because they messed with the urgency of the
02:10Imperial attack.
02:11The Whomper design in general is also arguably one of Star Wars' least inspiring, being
02:15nothing more than a big angry yeti, and the costumes were particularly ridiculous.
02:20With the scenes included, Hoth would have been a far less successful sequence, and the
02:24Whompers would have likely attained further notoriety in some corners as one of the original
02:28trilogy's worst ideas.
02:35Return of the Jedi features the character Grand Moff Jagerod, the heartless Death Star
02:39commander whose primary purpose is to be utterly terrified by the knowledge the Emperor is
02:43coming to the battle station to cast a jaundiced evil eye over his progress.
02:48The original cuts of the movie featured an expanded role for Jagerod, including the Emperor
02:52ordering him to blow up Endor when the Death Star II's shields go down.
02:56The most significant loss, however, was a scene where he encounters Darth Vader for
03:00a second time.
03:01Evidently having grown a bit of a spine since the opening scene, Jagerod refuses Darth Vader
03:06leave to enter the Emperor's throne room.
03:08Vader responds with his customary force choke, almost killing Jagerod until he explains the
03:12Emperor himself gave the order.
03:15The scene completely alters the power dynamic of the Empire.
03:18Darth Vader is a commanding, unquestioned force in Return of the Jedi, answering only
03:22to the Emperor.
03:23Jagerod's obstruction of Vader suggests the Imperial officers are on par with Vader,
03:28a situation much more in keeping with what we saw of the Death Star's commanders in
03:32A New Hope.
03:38Senator Amidala and the various assassination attempts against her kick off the plot of
03:42Attack of the Clones.
03:43The reasons for wanting to kill her are made a lot clearer in a deleted scene, however,
03:48where she argues in the Senate against the proposal for a Grand Army of the Republic.
03:52Later revealed to be the clone army of the title, Amidala rails against the use of violence
03:56against the separatist movement instead of diplomacy, and argues in favour of democracy
04:00and freedom.
04:02The scene was probably again cut for pacing reasons and because there was too much political
04:06nonsense in the prequels anyway, but it does help confirm just what is going on during
04:10the overcomplicated sequence of events surrounding Palpatine's rise to power.
04:14It also emphasises the issue of why nobody honestly suspected Palpatine as the origin
04:18of the assassination attempts, since the scene confirms Amidala as a vocal opponent of Palpatine's
04:24policies.
04:25A rather charming sequence cut from the Battle of Maz's Castle in The Force Awakens was
04:33presumably once more snipped for pacing reasons, which is a bit of a shame because it would
04:37have come equipped with everyone's favourite smuggler back to his quick thinking best.
04:41Han, Finn and Maz are confronted by dastardly stormtroopers in the basements of Maz's
04:45Castle, and Han, in classic lovable rogue form, tries to talk his way out of it.
04:50He even refers to Finn's stormtrooper boots, filling in a missing plot point about how
04:54Han was able to guess Finn's ex-stormtrooper origins.
04:58We see both Han's winning, princess-stealing smirk and his equally adorable flummoxness
05:02when things inevitably go wrong.
05:04Sadly, it all ended on the digital cutting room floor, though, so we're left to merely
05:07imagine how the veteran space dog Han had kept up with his fast-talking ways of old.
05:15Remember when Luke whinged about going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters?
05:20The station was the setting for a scene that kicked off an entirely deleted subplot in
05:23A New Hope.
05:24Luke encounters his friend Biggs Darklighter, who is joining the same Imperial Flight Academy
05:29Luke envisages as his way off the dusty nowhere of Tatooine.
05:33Luke then confides in Biggs that he intends to jump ship and join the Rebellion.
05:37Not only does this set up a link between Luke and Biggs later on, but it also helps explain
05:41one of A New Hope's most baffling gaps, how a teenage farm boy became a fighter pilot
05:45with apparently zero training.
05:48Biggs emphasises here how Luke is the best bush pilot around, confirming the vague hints
05:53of Luke's flying skills in the film's final cut.
05:55The fact the scene is just two guys talking for a couple of minutes explains why it was
05:59cut out of an already sometimes sedate first portion of A New Hope.
06:03But it does help fill in some notable blanks all the same.
06:08The second slice of the Biggs subplot sees Luke encountering his old friend at Yavin
06:134, prior to the Biggs showdown against the Death Star.
06:15It's a short scene that nevertheless confirms Biggs joined the Rebel Alliance as he promised,
06:20and explains why he's given a featured part in the final Trench Run assault.
06:24Perhaps most crucially, another pilot interrupts the boys' love-in to say he fought with
06:28Luke's father, who was a great man.
06:31Of course, this little nugget would have thrown a massive spanner in the works of the
06:34whole No I Am Your Father thing in one movie's time, and suggests strongly that Luke and
06:39Vader's familial connection wasn't actually on George Lucas' radar when he was crafting
06:43A New Hope.
06:44As minor as this scene is, it really could have changed everything, by potentially forcing
06:49the filmmakers to come up with a new twist for the final throwdown at Bespin, and changing
06:53the entire course of the movie series, Vader's character and Luke's destiny.
06:583. Revenge of the Sith's Elevator Sequence
07:01Revenge of the Sith has its share of cheesy, peculiar and illogical moments, but it would
07:06have had a hell of a lot more if this bonkers sequence had been included.
07:10The scenes in question focus on Anakin and Obi-Wan fighting, bumbling and wisecracking
07:14their way through General Grievous' ship, and an eventual confrontation with the four-armed
07:18asthmatic cyborg.
07:20Firstly, there's the all-round absurdity which sees the two Jedi demonstrate an ability
07:24to perfectly mimic R2-D2's blooping, beeping, machine-speak, a skill that makes no sense
07:29and has never been referred to before.
07:31Also on top of some more comedy mugging where they ultimately get cornered by an elevator
07:35full of battle droids, the duo witness Grievous executing Shark T, a Jedi we've barely seen
07:41before and have no reason to care about.
07:43The two then escape that Grievous encounter after the sequence's nadir, involving a
07:47bout of moustache-twiddling sign language to coordinate them running through the deck
07:51and fleeing.
07:52It's the absolute worst of the prequel's non-comedy and makes the pair look like sophomoric
07:56idiots.
07:572.
07:58The Rebellion Is Founded
08:01The prequel series boasts an awful lot of politics, but you knew that already.
08:05And if the original plotline had been followed, it would have included a whole mess more.
08:10A whole subplot was cut out involving Senator Amidala, Bail Organa and a young Mon Mothma
08:15concocting an opposition to Palpatine's increasingly oppressive policies.
08:19It's understandable why the scenes themselves ended up in the bin.
08:22They consist of characters sitting around talking for a bit, while Amidala exhibits
08:26increasingly outlandish hairstyles.
08:28Their absence, however, leaves out an important piece of Star Wars history never addressed
08:32openly, the foundation of the rebellion that emerged to oppose Palpatine's new empire.
08:37The scenes imply that Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and the other assorted figures founded the
08:41rebellion, turning their political conspiracy into a military insurgency.
08:45If the cutscenes had been a whole lot more, you know, interesting, that element of Star
08:49Wars might have survived intact, too.
08:521.
08:53The Opening to Return of the Jedi
08:56After its opening scene of Vader arriving at the Death Star II, Return of the Jedi kicks
09:00off with R2-D2 and C-3PO trundling and waddling, respectively, towards the gates of Jabba's
09:06palace on Tatooine.
09:07They proceed to bumble their way towards an audience with the malevolent Mafia slug.
09:11In original cuts of the movie, though, this sequence was preceded by shots of Luke Skywalker
09:15preparing for his mission to rescue Han and Chewie by building a new lightsaber to replace
09:20the one he lost at Bespin, along with the Hand holding it.
09:23As he broods in a cave near the palace, Darth Vader tries to contact him with the Force
09:28and convince him to join in overthrowing the Emperor.
09:30The scene would have helped explain what Luke's been up to since Bespin, and shown him in
09:34an even darker mode, hooded and grim.
09:37It also reiterates Vader's motivation to make Luke into his apprentice, hinted at during
09:41his previous confrontation with Luke.
09:44The scene was fully filmed, but was still left out of the final cut, though.